Christmas may still be a few months away, but New England Patriots assistant head coach Joe Judge is getting into the holiday spirit a little early.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Patriots receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster donned a stylish gray hoodie bearing the iconic "Pat Patriot" throwback logo. The back of the hoodie bears a motivational message reading "No one is coming; it's up to us." As Smith-Schuster revealed, Judge left each player a hoodie in their locker on Wednesday.
Reportedly, this isn't the first time that Judge has gifted his players such a present. According to NESN's Zach Cox, Judge used to give Patriots special teams players a different motivational sweatshirt each season.
Patriots fans are very accustomed to mantras such as this. The most iconic of the bunch being "Do Your Job," the simple yet effective phrase popularized by coach Bill Belichick. There's also the similarly blunt "No Days Off," also coming from Belichick.
Judge has been a key piece of the Patriots' staff for the better part of a decade, first joining as a special teams assistant in 2012 before becoming the special teams coach in 2015 and also the receivers coach in 2019. He left to become the New York Giants coach in 2020, but only lasted two seasons in an unsuccessful stint in the Big Apple. After that, Judge made his way back to New England as an offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach last season, before becoming the assistant head coach this year.
Amidst a 1-2 start to the season, the Patriots will need to follow Judge's motto carefully. With a tough road matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, it's up to New England to avoid its third straight 1-3 start.
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